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EDMONTON \u2014 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith says the American capture of Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro underlines the urgency of building oil pipelines to export Canadian oil to new markets.<\/p>\n
U.S. President Donald Trump sent political shock waves around the world with the weekend military raid, saying Washington aimed to seize the South American country\u2019s oil reserves.<\/p>\n
Smith says the events \u201cemphasize the importance that we expedite the development of pipelines to diversify our oil export markets.\u201d<\/p>\n
That includes a new pipeline to British Columbia\u2019s West Coast to reach markets in Asia.<\/p>\n
In November, Smith signed an agreement with Prime Minister Mark Carney paving the way to a potential Indigenous co-owned bitumen pipeline and to eliminate environmental policies standing in the way, including the B.C. tanker ban.<\/p>\n
The deal aims for Alberta and Ottawa to agree on an industrial carbon price by April 1 and sets a July 1 deadline for a pipeline proposal to Ottawa\u2019s Major Projects Office.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlberta supports building pipelines in all directions to get our product to market and we look forward to continuing to work with provincial and federal partners to advance these projects,\u201d Smith said in a statement Monday.<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 The Canadian Press<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n